


The Pumpkin Patch

by vcg73



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Hummel Family Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vcg73/pseuds/vcg73
Summary: Burt goes a little overboard celebrating Halloween.





	The Pumpkin Patch

“Oh my god.” Kurt stopped dead in the middle of the entryway, staring around the interior of his home, which looked like a carpet-and-newspaper covered pumpkin patch. They were _everywhere_. Big ones, little ones, orange ones, greenish yellow ones; clean and smooth, and lumpy and mottled. Every direction he looked, pumpkins.

“Hey, buddy!” Burt said, coming in through the sliding glass back door and beaming proudly as he wiped off dirt covered hands on his already muddy jeans. “The Proctors were having a big pumpkin sale, so I picked us up a few! Hope you don’t mind. I told Annie we’d head back over this weekend so you could choose your own.”

Jed Proctor was one of Lima’s many local farmers, owning a huge piece of land just outside the city limits. He and Burt had gone to school together and Burt liked to buy the family’s produce fresh from Jed and his wife Annie whenever possible. Going to the big annual Pumpkin Patch event had been a Hummel family tradition for Kurt's entire life. Even the year they lost his mother, he and his dad had gone and picked out a special one to carve in her honor. It was the only celebration they had had that entire fall and winter, but it had felt necessary to commemorate Mom's favorite holiday in some way. And for the past five years, Kurt's dad had been obsessed making up for every holiday they had lost. But this time, he had gone a little overboard!

“Are you sure you left any?” Kurt asked, carefully picking his way through the obstacle course. He took a peek into the kitchen as he passed it. Sure enough, more pumpkins. “Dad, there must be fifty pumpkins in this house right now, and you want to go back tomorrow and get another one?”

Burt looked around, a bit surprised himself now that he actually took in all of the vegetables he had been carting inside for the past half hour. “Oh,” he said, removing his hat and scratching at his bare scalp. “I knew I had filled up the back of the pickup, but I guess I didn’t realize there were quite so many of them. We don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. I guess maybe you are getting a little old for the Pumpkin Patch.”

He looked so disheartened as he said this that Kurt immediately felt bad. He had gone through a phase of pumpkin obsession when he was about five, even dressing up like a pumpkin for trick or treating that year, and it had started a tradition of bringing home a few to carve into silly and scary faces together. Kurt always got one of his very own on Pumpkin Patch day, and carving jack o lanterns had evolved into sort of a father and son bonding ritual. 

At fourteen, Kurt really did feel that he was too old for childish things like pumpkin patches and trick or treat; but the sadness in his dad’s eyes as he drew himself up with a nod and tried to look as if he was okay with this made him reconsider. The two of them did not have a lot of things in common. He was reluctant to lose any of the ones they did.

“How old are you, Dad?”

Burt glowered at him. “Fine, I know it was a silly impulse, buying all this crap, but you don’t need to get smart about it.”

“No, I don't mean it like that. Just, how old?”

"Thirty-nine, and considering the amount of time my kid brother spent razzing me about being almost over the hill at my last birthday dinner, I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”

Kurt grinned. Uncle Andy had had a lot of good zingers that night. “Okay, so if you’re thirty-nine, and you aren’t too old for jack o lanterns, I figure that gives me plenty of time before I am. Besides, I don’t think Annie would ever forgive me if I didn’t come by for a slice of her ‘world-famous’ apple pie.”

Burt smiled at him. “I always knew you were the smart one in the family.” He looked around the living room again, settling his eyes on a large, bright orange orb that was currently occupying the seat of his favorite chair, and shook his head. “But I guess I really did go a little nuts with all this. Any ideas on what we should do with ‘em all? I can’t exactly take ‘em back.”

For a couple of minutes, the two Hummels pondered their crowded abode. Then Kurt said, “It seems kind of a shame, considering that we just spent the entire last weekend raking them up, but I say we sprinkle all the leaves we bagged back out over the front yard, put some faces on these guys with permanent markers; because there’s no way I’m ruining my hands, not to mention giving myself permanent carpal tunnel syndrome, carving fifty different jack o lanterns; and replant them all over the yard. We can rig up a few strings of white Christmas tree lights around them, maybe a couple of fake tombstones for ambiance. We’ll tuck the cords under the leaves so they don’t show. Then when Halloween comes we’ll have a yard display that will put everyone else in the neighborhood to shame.”

“Guess we better stock up on the candy too then,” Burt decided, liking this plan. “A setup like that is sure to draw in a lot of extra kids.”

Kurt agreed. “Good idea, and we should lay out a path of stepping stones from the edge of the fence to the front steps, so nobody gets their feet tangled up in hidden light cords and sues us.”

His father snorted a little, recognizing in the overly-innocent suggestion that Kurt had just maneuvered him into doing one of those home-improvement projects he was always angling for. “Wouldn’t want that,” he said affably. “Where we gonna get a bunch of white Christmas tree lights, though? It’s only the beginning of October.”

It was Kurt’s turn to make a derisive noise. “Dad, seriously. Have you been to the mall lately? It looks like Halloween ran over a Thanksgiving turkey in its rush to sit in Santa’s lap! Trust me, we’re not going to have a problem finding lights.”

Burt clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly, looking like a miser surveying his fortune as he gazed once again over the wealth of pumpkins. “Where do you think we should start?”

Kurt considered the situation. “Let’s put out the leaves first, then take the little ugly ones and make a sort of border for the yard. Then we can head to a hardware store and see what kind of stepping stones they carry. The green pumpkins and the ones with all that gross fungus-looking growth on them won’t be good for carving anyway. They can just be our sentries.”

“You got it,” Burt agreed happily. “We can get things set up, then start decorating the good ones on Saturday.”

“I’ll stop by the mall on my way home from school tomorrow and pick up some extra markers, and maybe some of those stencil kits they make for people who can’t draw.”

Burt rolled his eyes, knowing that shot had been meant for him. Stick figures and squiggles were about the extent of his artistic talent. “Good idea. Nice of you to make the sacrifice of going to the mall.”

He and Kurt shared a grin, both knowing that the boy would have found a reason to go to his favorite place no matter what the excuse.

“Go change into something you won’t mind getting a little dirty,” Burt said. “I’ll grab you some work gloves and get the wheelbarrow. You can help me load up these guys and put ‘em out in the shed for the time being. Then we’ll go see if Home Depot has what we’re looking for.”

Happy at the prospect of a shopping trip, even if it was just to Home Depot (which, to be honest, had some pretty cool stuff), Kurt headed for the basement steps. He had some of his coveralls from the garage here that he’d brought home for laundering. Those would do. It wasn’t like anyone important was going to see him shopping for yard fixtures! 

As he reached the doorway that led down to the basement, he paused and looked back at Burt. “This will be fun.”

Burt put the baseball cap back on his head and adjusted the brim with a snappy salute. “Thanks for humoring your old man, kid.”

“We should also get you some overalls, and a few stalks of straw for your hat. You could wear face-paint and be a scarecrow for our pumpkin patch.”

“And I could get you a donkey costume and a graduation cap and let you go trick or treating as a smart-ass,” Burt shot back. 

Kurt laughed. “Don’t tempt me. Be right back.”

He could hear his dad chuckling all the way downstairs.

THE END


End file.
